Indians living in the forests of North America depended on forests for their survival. They made canoes, bows and arrows, containers, spoons, bowls, traps, pipestems, and tools out of wood. The forests provided game for food, and Indians used wood to build and heat their homes.

Over hundreds of years, Woodland Indians developed a sophisticated method of forestry to protect their most valuable resource. They employed a technique called "light burning," which involved setting small, strategic fires in forests. This cleared the woodland of brush and weak trees, and created open park-like areas with new growth that attracted game and prevented the forest from random lightening strikes. The strong trees survived and grew large and tall, making them ideal for homes and canoes.

In the late nineteenth century, the beautiful pine forests in northern Minnesota that had resulted from this kind of light burning attracted lumber barons. These men, knowing how valuable the trees would be if they were transformed into lumber and paper, convinced government officials to push Indians from their lands. The lumber barons then proceeded to cut down most of the trees in the great forests. Sawmills, railroads and roads were constructed to process and transport timber, factories were built, and new towns sprang up to house employees.

The lumber-hungry men had no understanding of forest conservation, or of how they had destroyed the lives of Ojibwe Indians and forest animals. Their carelessness and greed had disastrous consequences.

Years of uncleared brush prevented rain from reaching the roots of trees still standing in the forests, and dry, discarded timber was piled everywhere in northern Minnesota. The land became a tinderbox waiting to be ignited. From about 1870 to 1918, huge forest fires called "firestorms" exploded like bombs and raged throughout the Great Lakes area.

The Great Hinckley Fire was only one of approximately 60 fires which burned out of control in the region. The fire at Hinckley killed 418 people and burned 320,000 acres. Firestorms continued mercilessly until the government learned better fire-fighting techniques and returned to some native forestry practices.

Today, modern firefighters realize the importance of light burning, but they are unable to use it effectively because of the large numbers of people who have homes and businesses on forest land. These firefighters recognized and now envy the forestry management methods used by Ojibwe and other Woodland Indians, which have never been duplicated.

Ricing is a seasonal ritual that connects Ojibwe Indians to their ancestral traditions.

The Ojibwe People originally lived on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Many of these People migrated west, and about 500 years ago, settled in areas that became Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Canada — "the land where food grows on the water."

Mahnomen, or wild rice, is the food that grows on the water, and it is still harvested by Mille Lacs Band members in August and September. Gathering rice in the traditional manner usually involves two people who go out in a canoe. One poles the craft, and the other sweeps wild rice stalks over the canoe and knocks the grains into the bottom of the canoe with ricing sticks.

Using an age-old process, the wild rice is placed in a huge iron pot over a fire and parched. The rice is then jigged and thrashed by the clean, moccasined feet of boys and men, or girls who are not yet women. After the rice is dried, it is winnowed — tossed into the air with a winnowing basket to separate the husks from the grains — and stored in wiigwaas mukkaks or birchbark containers. Because wiigwaas are crafted individually, these containers often become collectors’ items.

Rice harvested in this manner is considered a gourmet treat and is sometimes sold in specialty stores. The flavor and appearance of this rice is much better than commercial wild rice.